


What could have been

by Making_excuses



Series: Collection: Christian Horner/Kimi Räikkönen [1]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: M/M, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-09
Updated: 2015-03-09
Packaged: 2018-03-17 03:51:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3514334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Making_excuses/pseuds/Making_excuses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Christian reacting to the news that Sebastian is leaving the team.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What could have been

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to take a moment to thank my very awesome Beta reader Ciro0.

Before Christian walked into Helmut’s office he needed a moment to calm down. If the insufferable man had just listened to him last year they wouldn’t be in this position. Helmut, then like now, would probably just talk about the fact that Red Bull protects their own, that they should hire a driver from their pool instead of going outside of it, but look where that got them. They had lost one of the best drivers on the grid, and now that driver was the teammate of the man Christian had worked so hard to get on the team a year ago.

The nail in the coffin on that discussion was the day Helmut informed him that he was letting his own feelings get in the way of business. That he wasn’t thinking clearly and just wanted _him_ closer, that he wasn’t putting the team’s needs in front of his own. Even if he knew that if Mark had to go, they needed a new teammate for Seb and he respected Kimi, so he was an obvious choice. He was good enough to keep up with Sebbie, they got along. And most of all, they respected each other. They wouldn’t get a new multi 2-1 situation because neither of them would want to follow the instruction.

Even from the commercial point of view he knew that putting Kimi alongside Seb would be a great match. The publicity Kimi brought with him was enormous. It would help softening Seb’s image and make Kimi more human, as Seb always brought out a softer side of Kimi when they hung out together.

But it was all stopped with six words. _We are not hiring your boyfriend_. And now Seb had left the team to join Kimi. Christian understood that it was more than just a change of teammates, Daniel was a great driver and a great person and he got along nicely with Seb, that wasn’t the reason why he left. Sebastian would have left one day either way. Ferrari had been his dream most of his life. Christian had hoped to stall that a couple of years by putting Kimi in the same team as Seb. He wasn’t ready to lose them both.

Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door before walking in to have an argument behind closed doors. Because in a couple of hours he had to go out and talk to the press and he had to look like he was on top of it all. That Sebastian leaving hadn’t hurt him that much, and more importantly that the team was on top of it. He had to convince the world that he was calm and at peace with the decisions the team had made in the past. That hiring Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat was the right decision. 

********

“Did you know?” was the first thing he said when Kimi picked up the phone, not bothering with any pleasantries. It had never been a part of their relationship, not even before _this_ , whatever this was, had started. 

“Yes,” Kimi replied, showing no regret for not warning him about it.

“I thought so. We’ll talk later?” he tried putting some warmth in his voice, but it was hard to not feel slightly betrayed by his _favourite Finn_ , as Seb would have put it.

“Yes.” was the reply he got, before the phone was hung up. Walking further into his hotel room he looked at the piles of paperwork he should be doing, but reasoning that it could wait until morning he headed to the minibar to find some scotch instead. Getting out of his slightly damp clothes and into dry ones he walked out on the balcony, looking down on the mostly deserted street, thinking back to the previous four years. Around this time they had been at the top, last year they were pretty much guaranteed both Constructor’s and Driver’s and now the car just didn’t work the way they wanted it to. His drivers did their best, Daniel’s performance was amazing and he knew Sebastian wasn’t far behind, but as Mark said, Seb had gotten his car this season. It hurt to see his driver struggle finding less and less joy in driving the RB10 the further into the season they got without a fix, and now as he had decided to follow in his hero’s footsteps, he hoped Seb would find some peace.

Letting his mind settle, he watched the rain falling, preparing for the rest of the weekend, knowing the fight wasn’t over yet.

Hearing a knock on the door, he got up wondering why anyone would physically come to his door at this hour. Opening the door he saw a face he didn’t think he would see except on monitors for the next couple of days.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Kimi stated.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> **Disclaimer** No money is made, the characters only share a name with real people, I am not in any way shape or form saying that either of them has done any of what I have written.


End file.
